Laois Championships 2009

Senior

This produced outstanding badminton and extremely close games in the process. The ladies doubles saw the Portarlington Parochial pair of Ellen Cassells and Barbara Jordan beat Ellen O’Neill and Norrie Gilchrist from CLTC and Portlaoise respectively.

The men’s doubles was again a close affair with Father and son combination of Alan and Mark Cobbe (Portarlington Parochial) edging the vital points at crutial stages of games to win ahead of Martin Hanlon and Michael Manning (Johnswell) in another tight group.

The mixed doubles saw the winners of the 2 tightly contested groups meet each other in the final. Both pairs, who are playing Portarlington Parochial club, produced exhibition badminton. In a nailbiting 3 setter, Barbara Jordan and Mark Cobbe overcame Ellen Cassells and John Joe Cronley 21-18, 20-22, 21-16.

The men’s competition saw the narrowest of margins separate the top 2 pairs. Calculators were required. Tony Dobson and Paddy Ayres (Rahan) overcame Liam Dempsey and Trevor Cobbe (Portarlington Par) by only 2 aces at the top of the group.

In the mixed the winners of 2 very tight groups played in the final. This saw Ashleigh Fennell (Port Par) and Paddy Ayres (Rahan) beat Norrie Gilchrist and Ron Martin (Portlaoise Gaa) 21-15, 22-20.

Grade 4

Ladies doubles final saw Norrie Gilchrist and Pauline O’Sullivan from Portlaoise GAA just getting the better of Chelsey Cox and Emma Owens in 3 close sets.

The Men’s doubles saw Leon Coe and Liam Dempsey get the better of Cecil Reynolds and David Jackson in a very close group where they both ended up level on sets but were just 5 aces ahead when the points were added up.

The mixed doubles was even closer with only 11 aces separating the top and bottom pairs. The winners were Pauline O’Sullivan and Liam Dempsey with Chelsey Cox and Leon Coe (Port Par) coming a close second.

Grade 5

The ladies saw Aileen Garahy and Josie Kennedy (Country Club) top the group ahead of Mary Doogue and Eunice Jeffers (Athy RFC) The mixed again saw 2 groups with the winners playing each other in the final. Eunice Jeffers and Martin Carroll (Athy RFC) just got the better of Deborah Collier and Daryl James (Carlow YM) 21-15, 22-20 in the final. The closest finish of the day was seen in the grade 5 men’s where the 2 top pairs ended level at 5 sets and 121 points each. It was like penalties after extra time in the game of soccer. Martin Carroll and James Kilbride (Athy RFC) had to step out on court again to face Daryl James (Carlow YM) and Ronald Martin (PortlaoiseGAA) for a sudden death set. In the end, each with their supporters cheering at the courtside, the Athy R.F.C. pair won 21-18

Grade 6

In the ladies doubles Ann Pyke and Catriona Hearns (Portlaoise GAA) were comfortable enough winners with Lucinda Burke and Emer Murphy from Rathangan in the runners up spot.The mens doubles was a much tighter affair with Richard Johnston and Jimmy Keating (Athy RFC) finishing just ahead of Richard Chester and Paddy Hedrington (Portlaoise GAA) in a hard fought group. The mixed was played in 2 very close groups with the winner of each group playing each other in the final. It was an all Portlaoise GAA final with Catriona Hearns and Richie Chester beating Ann Pyke and Paddy Hedrington in that game.